Edward Hamilton Aitken (1851-1909) was a civil servant in India, but best known for his humorist writings on natural history in India and as a founding member of the Bombay Natural History Society. He was well known to Anglo-Indians by the pen-name of Eha.
A fuller biography was published in the posthumous selection of his essays, Concerning Animals and Other Matters (1914).
Books by Edward Hamilton Aitken
The Tribes on My Frontier (1904) (first published 1883): Humorous, sharp-eyed sketches of the animals, insects, and everyday natural history encountered around an Indian household and compound. Also published under the alternate title An Indian Naturalist’s Foreign Policy.
Behind the Bungalow (1889): Essays on Anglo-Indian domestic life and social customs, written with irony and close observation.
The Naturalist on the Prowl (1894): Field-based natural history essays: animal behaviour, birds, insects, and the pleasures (and irritations) of observing life outdoors in India. Often issued as A Naturalist on the Prowl and as In the Jungle.
The Five Windows of the Soul (1898): A reflective, philosophical work on perception and knowing, moving beyond natural history into the inner life and how we apprehend the world. Also published as Thoughts on Perceiving.
The Common Birds of Bombay (1900): A practical, readable guide to recognising common birds around Bombay (and across much of India), with vivid behavioural notes. Closely related later editions appear as The Common Birds of India.
Gazetteer of the Province of Sind (1907): A substantial reference work compiled for administration: geography, economy, society, and district-level detail for Sind (now largely in Pakistan). Sometimes listed as Gazetteer of the Province of Sindh. (External link only.)
Concerning Animals and Other Matters (1914): A posthumous selection of essays (natural history and social sketches), with a memoir of Aitken. (Printable version here).
